The Pursuit of Happiness
by rubyminuszero
Summary: Max has five friends in his violent high school that he always hangs out with, including Lupe Jaco, who starts receiving emails from Max's older sister May at college. Rated T for language, suggestive themes, graffiti and gang fights. Lots of gang fights.
1. Lupe Jaco vs The World

** Welcome to what I call The Pursuit of Happiness. I realize most of my audience is either in high school or college, and many people in your school could be emo or possibly gangster. This is kinda the basis for this story. Many of the seniors in this high school identify themselves as a part of the gang called 77. That's it: 77. On the other hand, many freshmen and a few sophomores consider themselves emo, and join together and form a club called 616, after the real devil's number. (It's true, it isn't really 666, it's 616.) Max Maple is a junior, and he and his group of friends are caught in the middle of the two opposing and vast forces. This is the story of how this unfolds, leading up to the epic climax. Think your school's got drama issues? Your school ain't got anythin' on Weall Gett High. (10 points if the name made you giggle a little inside.)

* * *

**

**9.6.2010**

"Wasalu! Get yo ass down here!" shouted Grandma.

I laughed. "Grandma, easy, I'm comin'!" I shouted as I pulled on an old pair of Converse. "I'll be right there!"

Lemme give you a quick bio. I'm Wasalu "Lupe" Jaco. I am seventeen, very muscular and attractive (hello ladies), and I am half black. I'm gonna be a junior at Weall Gett High, one of the most violent schools in the state, in about ten hours. I am going to meet my five friends (Max Maple, Vivi Winstrate, Copprani "Copper" Wired, and Flyer and A.R. Gett) and have a campfire and enjoy the last moments of summer with 'em. And currently, my grandma is yelling at me to come to the kitchen.

I dashed down the hall, forgot to brake, and slammed into the wall. Swearing, I shifted gears and ran into the kitchen. "Here I am," I announced.

My grandmother, who was about a foot shorter than me (6'1" vs. 5'3") looked me up and down. "Wasalu, honey, where are you going?" she asked, looking at my open shirt, jeans and shoes.

"To chill with my friends, Grandma," I said. "There's only one night in summer left."

She smiled at me. "Now I know you love your friends, and they love you too, and you're all good kids, but-"

"Grandma, do I need to sit down for this?"

She laughed. "No, child, I think you'll be just fine." She continued. "But I worry about you, Wasalu. It's such a dangerous place we live in, what with the gangs and all. Why, one of your schoolmates got shot not two weeks ago…"

"You know I'm always careful," I said. "None of us go near those chainers."

"I know I can't stop you from having fun," she said, "but with your father dead and your dear mama workin' so hard, you're the only company I have other than Amelia. And it would be a shame to lose that company."

Amelia was my fourteen-year-old sister, and she was one of the nicest people I knew. Even as her brother, the natural enemy of a sister, I can't remember the last time we got in a fight.

I pulled Grandma into a hug. "I'll be back. Don't worry too much, OK? I can hold my own, you know." I flexed my arms. "Who could deal with these sick pythons?"

"Go ahead, child," Grandma said sweetly. "I'll see you soon."

"Later, Grandma." I swung out the screen door.

* * *

Barely having walked anywhere, I noticed a glimmering orange light down the street at Copper's house, not two blocks from mine.

"Lupe!" came the faint sound of Max's voice. "Get over here!"

I sprinted the rest of the way to find Max, Vivi, Flyer, A.R. and Copper all sitting in lawn chairs around a fire roasting Starburst on metal coat hanger wires.

"Is this what we're doing for the last moments of this summer?" I asked. "Frying candy?"

"Well, we were gonna make our slave vampire robot Nazis who are also zombies assault all the gangs in the county, but science hasn't caught up with 2010 yet," said A.R. dully.

"I know, right?" said Flyer. "Where's our robots? It's fricking 2010. We should be flying around with jetpacks."

"That is a very bad idea," I said. "I'm not even going to be sarcastic and say that's a good idea. That's a lame-ass idea. If you take all the idiots on the road today and put them in the air, there would be epic explosions everywhere."

"Which is why you do it," said Copper. "Get rid of the fucktards and watch awesome explosions all in one."

We all laughed.

"But seriously, Lupe," said Copper, holding out a red Starburst, "these taste awesome when they're roasted. Try it!" She shoved it in my mouth.

"GAH!" I spit it in my hand. "Copper, that's fricking hot!"

"But amazing," said Vivi, chewing thoughtfully. "If the general population of stoners in the world found out about this, there would be an uprising."

I chewed on Copper's candy. I had to admit; I would most def end up eating more.

"There is going to be so much drama this year," said Vivi. "I'm already tired of it and it hasn't started yet."

"I don't know if there will be drama so much as fights," said A.R. "This is a violent place."

"I heard the emo kids are starting their own gang," said Max. "You know, the ones coming into high school?"

"If they're thinking of going up against 77, they've got another think coming," said Flyer. "Nobody could do that."

"Those are scary kids," I said. "I don't think they could take 77, but they might do some damage."

"I doubt it," said Flyer. "Emo kids have razor blades. 77 is a real gang, with guns. Bringing blades to gunfights is always a bad idea."

"77 uses sharpened screwdrivers as weapons too," said A.R. "I've seen them lying around on side streets."

"Well, I don't know what's goin' down, but whatever it is, we better steer clear," said Copper. General agreements of "Yeah," "Most def," and "For sure" were heard around the circle.

"What if we can't?" asked Max. "That's a clash of the titans that sounds hard to avoid."

"We just have to make sure not to start something," said A.R. "That decreases our chances of getting pwned by a lot."

"Hey, you guys, this is our last night of freedom," said Vivi. "Let's forget about the gangs for now and enjoy ourselves."

"True dat," said Flyer, pulling out a six-bottle case of Weindhart's from behind her. "Time to chillax."

"Beer? Yes!" said Max.

"No beer for you, Max," said Copper. "Drinking at sixteen? What would your sister May think?"

"She's nineteen and in college," said Max. "She would never find out. Now toss a cold one over here, please."

"It's orange cream soda, dumbass," said A.R. "Flyer wouldn't bring us any beer if our lives depended on it."

"It might not be beer, but I like orange just the same," I said, pulling a bottle from the case. Everyone followed suit.

Vivi raised her bottle. "To us, as juniors!" she said.

Max raised his. "To us, the group of friends with no beer."

A.R. raised his. "To the future year of us as upperclassmen, chillaxers, and headbangers at Lupe Fiasco concerts."

I raised mine. "To us, always right, always deep, always havin' stoner moments."

Copper raised hers. "To us, always fucking shit up."

Flyer raised hers. "To us, always on the pursuit of happiness."

A.R., Copper and I raised our bottles and began to chant the verse of the Kid Cudi/MGMT/Ratatat song Flyer was referencing. "I'm on the Pursuit of Happiness and I know, everything that shines ain't always gonna be gold, hey. I'll be fine, once I get it."

Everyone slammed their bottles together and chimed in for the last line. "I'll be gooooooooooooooooooooood."

We drank.

* * *

**Thanks for reading (and hopefully enjoying) the first chapter of Pursuit of Happiness. This was mostly an intro to the main cast of characters: Lupe, Copper, A.R., Flyer, Max and Vivi. Lupe is the deep, considerate guy who always knows what he's into, even with the occasional "Steven Hyde" moments; Copper is the girl who is slightly random but always down-to-earth while still being funny; A.R. is the street-smart guy who always knows where the party's at, and Lupe's best friend; Flyer is the sensible, smart girl; Max is the guy who always knows who to trust, and somehow always gets a 4.0 GPA when doing no more than the rest of the group; and Vivi is the sweet, sunshine-y girl who always knows where her friends are at. I will be traveling for the next week, but you should expect another update by 8.8.2010. Cheers.**


	2. Revolution of Evolution

**I realized I still haven't updated this in a couple months, but then I thought, eh, it's my story, I'll update it when I get around to it. I've got no goals for this. Who needs deadlines? In any case, May is introduced as an integral part of the story in this chapter. I was going to leave her out, because May stories are too mainstream around here, but she fits in well with the plot. Enjoy, forum. (A/N: This chapter is a rewrite, just so you know. It fills in some plot holes that were in the chapter before. I tried to update it a while ago, but good old Fan Fiction is being stupid as usual.)  
**

* * *

**9.6.2010**

SLAP.

I opened my eyes drearily, and slowly raised my hand to my face. "Whatzit? That hurt."

My vision cleared, and an image of Copper came into view. I was lying on my back, and she was on top of me stomach-to-stomach, with her face propped up on her hands, and her elbows in my chest.

When she saw me awake, she smiled. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

I rubbed my eyes. "What are you doing on me, Copprani?"

She made a face. "Waking you up, silly! And it worked, too."

I smiled sleepily. "Really? I thought you were on me 'cause we had sex last night or somethin'."

She laughed. "You wish." She put her hands to her chest and squeezed. "You just wish you could be in bed with these babies, don't you?"

"I already am." I tried to sit up, but she pushed me back down. "Oof. And I can't get out if you won't let me."

"You're no fun," she whined. "I try to be nice and friendly and I get zero response." She ground her arms into my torso. "Maybe I'll stop being friendly. Would you like that? I'll be a mean, dirty little whore. I'll run away to Amsterdam, become a prostitute and marry a lesbian. Do you want that on your head, Lupe?"

I laughed. "You would do that anyway."

She sighed, kissed my forehead, and rolled out of the bed. "You win, Mr. Killjoy."

"Thank you." I stood up, stretched, stepped over my jeans and shirt that I threw off last night, and walked over to my dresser, looking through a bunch of t-shirts. "Why are you over here so early, anyway? It can't be past seven. I don't even know how you got in. The door's deadbolted."

"Because I need someone to walk to school with. Vivi and Max take the bus, and A.R. drives himself and Flyer. You're the only one left." She fiddled with the dock on my desk, shuffling through songs like Lion's Roar by Asher Roth and Busta Rhymes, Deuces by Achozen, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, and Time To Pretend by MGMT. "And your downstairs window was open."

I pulled out an Eminem Recovery slim-fit shirt and some black jeans with a metal chain on the right pocket. "So I'm a last resort, huh? Is that it?"

She sighed. "You always say that, and you know you're always lying."

I pulled a spray can of Axe Dark Tempation out of a steel drawer underneath my bed. "Do I?"

She smiled and came closer. "You sir," she said, poking my bare chest, "are my _first _resort." Her fingers ventured lower, and grabbed at my side.

I jumped away, laughing. "Alright, you're right, I'm special, sorry!" I began to leave the room.

Copprani looked puzzled. "Where are you going?"

"To take a shower," I answered nonchalantly. "Why? Did you want to join me?"

She threw a pillow at me. "Pass."

* * *

I spent my shower wondering why Copprani had been so…. forward, I guess. I don't really know the word for how she's been acting, you know? I guess she's never really been shy; in fact, she'd been a self-proclaimed "bad girl" for most of her life. I didn't really think she was that bad, or at least I didn't think there was reason to think so. I'm pretty sure she smoked kush, but she didn't deal crack, and she was hot, but she had never tried to get in bed with five jocks at the same time. I wasn't even sure if she'd had sex before. The thought of having sex with her crossed my mind, but it was a fleeting thought; it left my mind before I realized it was there. They're strange things, thoughts, and sometimes us guys wish we didn't have them, but we've grown to live with them. I let my brain relax from its deep thoughts, and realized the shower was very cold. Damn Amelia and her need for hour-long showers. There was no hot water left. I turned off the water and ran the towel over my body, wondering if Copprani knew how guys' brains function, including mine. I pulled my Eminem shirt and my chained jeans back on again, and walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen.

Copprani was flipping through channels on our TV. "Your TV sucks, Lupe," she said.

I scoffed and made a face. "You suck."

"No I don't."

"Yes, yes you do."

"You just wish I did."

"You wish I did."

"What part of me can you suck?"

"I don't know about sucking, but what I do know is that you can't motorboat personality."

She laughed. "You are such a guy."

"Thank you. I try." I didn't talk to girls like that too often; it was a sign that you knew me very well if I ever said something to you like that, because when I do, you would be too deep in a friendship with me to really care about the sexual things I say. It's simply social behavior. 90 percent of self-confident guys act that way.

"Lupe!" It was Amelia. "Who are you talking to?"

"It's just me, Amelia," said Copprani. "We're going to leave soon, are you coming?"

"No, thanks! I'm walking with Bree and Georgia."

Now, being Amelia's older brother, I usually pay attention to which guys she hangs out with, you know, to make sure she doesn't get in trouble. That being said, I can never remember the names of all of Amelia's girlfriends. It wasn't because they fluctuated so often that there was no point in memorizing them; it's just that she has _so many friends_. However, the girls Amelia hangs out with always seem to remember _my_ name. I could only imagine why.

"Alright then, we're leaving!" I said. "See you at school! Text me if you need something."

Amelia smacked her lips from down the hallway. "Kay kay."

I hate it when she talks like that. I've always hated blonde-chica inner-city valley-girl linguistics. They always make people seem so stupid; although usually they are anyway.

* * *

The walk to school was five blocks.

"Damn," said Copprani, scratching at another giant 77 spray-painted on a building wall about a block from school, with the words Revolution Of Evolution underneath it. "I'd be more impressed if this graffiti job didn't blow."

"You're not impressed?" I said. "Sure, they're no artists, but they sure got perseverance. I've seen this number on half the buildings we've passed."

The walk to school did not seem irregular to us, but it might have depressed anybody that wasn't familiar with the area. A brown-orange haze usually hung over the streets, thanks to the factories on the northwest corner of the city. Buildings didn't stay new-looking for terribly long, and the old buildings never left. Graffiti came and went, but we always saw it at some point. Occasionally the windows to certain houses would open, and smoke would drift out. Once you inhaled it, you couldn't help feeling happy, or having the munchies.

When we got to school, the halls were in chaos. The 800 students that had made it to school were yelling at each other, throwing their new schedules in the air. A couple fights had broken out in the senior hallway, and a hint of the slickly sweet smell of marijuana hung in the air.

"This school is full of dumbfucks," said Copprani. "They don't even smoke the good kind of weed."

"I think this school is _run _by dumbfucks," I said dully.

Suddenly, Copprani pointed at the crowd. "Look! I see A.R. and Max!"

I pushed past some freshman crackheads to get a better look. A.R. was trying to fight his way through the mob, while Max was trying to break up a fight near the guy's bathroom. Without thinking, I rammed my way through a clique of chattering sophomores and approached Max.

"You big baby," I accused pointedly, grabbing one of the kids in the fight and pinning them against a locker without breaking Max's eye contact. "You can't fight a bunch of little kids off you?"

"We can't all be built like 50 Cent," said Max wearily. "I have to use a battering ram to get to the bathroom."

"Use my dick," said a junior nearby, who I gladly remembered as Jeff, the stoned raving hipster with good taste in music. "It's bigger." Several people laughed.

"What's the point?" asked A.R., finally beside me. He punched out a random sophomore (OUUUOUGH) without breaking my eye contact. "There's probably cheerleaders in all the stalls giving blowjobs anyway. Nobody's gonna take two craps around here. Quit trying to break up fights and let's go get Copper and find Flyer and Vivi."

Eventually, Max and I found Vivi, but we realized we had left A.R. and Copprani. I found A.R., but realized that Vivi and I had left Max behind. This wild goose chase continued for several minutes. After all six of us had found each other, we ducked into a classroom to compare our schedules in peace. My day went something like this:

**1 - Spanish II (with Flyer, A.R. and Copprani)**

**2 - Government (with A.R. and Max)**

**3 - Algebra III (with Max)**

**4 - Physics (with A.R. and Copprani)**

**LUNCH**

**5 – Drafting I (with Flyer)**

**6 - Art I (with Vivi)**

**7 - Cadet Teaching 893 (with A.R.)**

"Damn," said Copprani, looking at the specifics of her itinerary. "Sorry, Vivi, but looks like I won't be seeing you much this semester."

"Me neither," said Max. "All my classes look like they're fulla seniors."

"Lucky you, Lupe," said Flyer. "You have all of us in a class at one point."

"The second half of my day looks pretty homo," I said. "I might just skip that part."

"Skipping!" said Flyer.

"Hellaaaaaaaaaaaa!" we all yelled together.

The bell rang, and we split up; Max and Vivi went to some elective, and the rest of us went off to Spanish II. Our Spanish teacher, Mr. Sniknej (who sounded Norwegian and really very un-Spanish to me) was pretty unorganized. Flyer, Copprani, A.R. and I walked in to find papers stuffed sideways in millions of file cabinets, dictionaries falling off bookshelves, and freshmen writing slanders against gay students in the fronts of Algebra teacher, Ms. Moorecox, was even worse; some dude had his face in his girlfriend's tits (a fine rack, mind you) and she just watched with one eyebrow cocked, while Max and I gave each other confused looks. Our Physics teacher, Mr. Bueller, bored me to tears; A.R., Copprani and I were assigned to read two chapters from a 1984 textbook by the next day. The only survivable class was Government, in second period; the teacher, Mr. Davis, believed in visual aids, which meant videos were something to be counted on every day. Bless on, God.

"Do you guys wanna go somewhere for lunch?" asked A.R. "I've got a car, y'know."

A.R., Copprani and I were all stumbling out of Physics, trying to decipher the hidden language in the books we held.

"Sure," said Copprani. "As long as I don't have to pitch in for gas."

"No prob," said A.R. "It's just a couple blocks. I can cover it."

* * *

"Just a couple blocks" actually meant across town. We barely had time to make it to Mickey D's and back, so I had to finish my last McChicken during Drafting.

I walked into a stonewall classroom in the shop portion of the school, full of old wood tables, a dusty whiteboard and random yardsticks and compasses strewn about the floor. I saw Flyer at one of the middle tables with a few other friendly juniors, so I invited myself to sit next to them.

Flyer stared at my McChicken. "How many of those have you eaten?" she whispered.

"This is my fourth," I said between mouthfuls.

"Holy crap! I can barely eat two."

"That's because pretty girls always watch what they eat."

She punched my arm. "Save it for Copprani."

I laughed and nearly choked on a piece of chicken. "Excuse me?"

"Please, Lupe. I would be surprised if you haven't had sex with her."

I took a long drag on the straw of my large drink. "I woke up this morning, and she was on top of me."

Flyer nearly choked on air. "She was _what_?"

I inspected a nearby ruler, exuding an air of complete casualness. "You heard me."

"You _boned_ her?"

I scoffed. "No. What kind of guy do you think I am?"

"Jesus' teste! You _fucked_ with my bestie!"

Nice rhyme. I'll add to it. "I did her so hard that the cops should be arrestin' me. I said to her, 'Copper, put your trust in me.' She said 'Baby, you bring out the best in me. It's so good, God should be blessin' thee. I'll do you complacently. Ever since you asked to rest with me, I knew that you would make a mess in me."

Flyer was not impressed by my eight-bar freestyle. "Quit mocking me."

"I didn't have sex with Copprani, Flyer."

"You just said you did."

"Just because I have the poetic freestyle abilities of Talib Kweli doesn't mean I was telling the truth."

She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. "So she got in bed with you, but she didn't have sex with you."

"She was just trying to get my attention. She wanted someone to walk to school with." I grinned. "Sorry if you wanted a sex story. I don't have one you haven't heard."

Flyer put her face in her hands. "If I ever wake up in bed with you, I'm gonna shoot myself."

* * *

Art was extremely disappointing; it was full of annoying freshmen (who wouldn't quit whispering and looking at me with huge eyes), and Vivi, who doesn't make for a good conversationalist, so I spent most of class drawing mushroom clouds on the oddly sculpted tables. Hey, it's Art, right?

Which left one period: Cadet Teaching.

The thing about Cadet Teaching is that nobody knows exactly what it really is. According to Weall Gett High legend, it involves helping elementary and middle school teachers. Doing what, I have no idea. I could be signed up as a sex slave for all I know. And the only thing I did know about Cadet Teaching was that nobody liked it.

I was wandering the halls wondering where to go when I caught A.R. by the office.

"Where do we go?" I asked him.

"The secretary's s'posed to tell us," said A.R. "But I'm pretty sure she's busy having phone sex right now."

I glanced at the secretary and immediately gagged. "There is no way phone sex could ever be fun for me now."

"It's no fun anyway," said A.R.

"Is it awkward?"

"Yeah. Most of the time you don't know what you're talking about."

"Have you ever actually done it, A.R.?"

"Hell no." He inhaled deeply, and shouted, "HEY, COME ON OVER AND HELP ANYTIME YOU'RE DONE FINGERING YOURSELF!" I scoffed at his remark.

The secretary slammed the phone down on the receiver so fast that it cracked. "Dear God, what is it?"

"Where do we go for Cadet Teaching….uh…." I checked my schedule. "…893?"

"How should I know?" said the secretary irritably.

"Well, we don't," I said.

"That's your problem."

"What do you mean, our problem? You guys gave us this class."

"Because you need to learn some responsibility."

"That's hard when you don't know where the hell you're going," said A.R. angrily.

"Then find out where the hell you're going."

"We don't know!" I reiterated indignantly.

"Then figure it out."

"You gave us this class! It's on our schedule!"

"Schedules can be misleading."

"YOU WROTE THEM!"

"DAMN IT, WOMAN!" A.R. was furious. "TELL US WHERE TO GO!"

"You boys need to learn respect for your elders, you know that?"

I made a face. "You need to earn elders' respect, you know that?"

"Point made." She adjusted her thick wire glasses and peered at the computer in front of her. "What number was it?"

"Uh…. 893?"

"Hmmm…" She scrolled down a list. "No 893 here. It only goes up to 41."

I folded my arms. "Good one."

"Seriously."

"Really."

"I'm not joking. There is no 893."

"What are you trying to pull?" said A.R. "This is wack. What's wrong with you?"

She sighed. "Look. If I give you the period free, will you leave me alone? The only restriction is that you can't leave campus without cause."

We turned to look at each other, then back at the secretary. "Uh, sure," A.R. said.

"Alright then. Get lost, I've got paperwork to do." She waved us away.

We didn't do much that period. We weren't really sure what you could do during a free period where you were stuck on campus. I mean, what would you do? Study. You really just said that. Okay. Sure, but granted, that's a pointless effort I'm not into making. I wish we could just leave. If we could leave, we would go home in a heartbeat, it being the last period of the day. It would be so nice to be done with school earlier in the day. My perfect ending time would be maybe…. 1 PM? After we start at 12:30 PM, of course.

We were making faces at a sophomore English class through the door window when the bell rang. The door burst open and a tidal wave of emo-haired kids flushed out of the classroom, makeup, lip rings, and tight jeans in tow.

"Flamers," A.R. muttered. "It's hard to believe the freshmen are worse."

"Well, they do have a gang, if you call 616 a gang," I said. "And there's more of them."

"Yeah, I guess all the sophomores aren't bad," he said, watching a redheaded girl with large breasts for her age pass by. "Hey, Madison."

She turned around and flashed him a smile. "Hey, Andrew!" Madison was a fifteen-year-old girl with a unique style. She was pretty short, about five foot two, and very white, but she pulled it off. She was often seen wearing layered ensembles and yellow stoner glasses, but she didn't smoke chronic. Her style almost had undertones of Japanese manga, but it was very subtle. And I had never heard anybody call A.R. "Andrew" for years except for her.

"I'm sad, Andrew!" she said, coming closer to us. "We don't have any classes together!"

He grinned. "I'm heartbroken, Maddie," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Seriously."

"Well, we should hang outside of school, then!" She was looking almost straight up into his face. "I'll let you know when I can, 'kay?"

He squeezed her lightly, and she giggled. "Yeah, for sure," he said, letting go.

She drew her arm tightly around her books. "Alright, bye Andrew!" She smiled at me, too. "See ya, Lupe!" She slipped into the mob of teenagers flooding down the hall.

"She's pretty cute," I said. "You gonna smack that all on the floor?"

"I don't think so," said A.R. thoughtfully. "She's cool, y'know?"

"At least make it to second base. She's got some chest."

He slapped me on the back. "We can't all be players like you, Lupe."

He was being modest, and also half-lying. He had kissed a lot of hot girls in his lifetime, and they had enjoyed it every time. And I wasn't really more of a player; I just seemed like a good candidate for being friends with benefits for a lot of girls, I guess. I never consent, anyway. Usually the girls who hit on me are STD-ridden sluts who've been fisted before, so I immediately say no. A lot of girls around here aren't very pretty; most guys date outside of Weall Gett.

"Hey! Lupe! Anybody home?"

My eyes blinked and refocused. I found Flyer reaching up and knocking her fist against my forehead, with Copprani standing nearby. "You in there?"

"Yeah, sorry." I stretched and popped my back. "I'm ready for summer again."

"Come on, guys," said A.R. "We find Vivi and Max and I'll give y'all a ride to our house and we'll chill."

We had finally started down the hall when-

"Hey Lupe!" Jeff ran up. "You better go back up Max. He's in a tight spot."

Jeff began speedwalking down the hall, and I ran to catch up with him, A.R. not far behind. "Wait, what?" I asked. "What'd he do?"

"Hollister was hitting on Vivi and Max got jealous. Two plus two, whoop dee doo, he didn't notice Hollister had backup, the fool."

I heard shouts, and I ran faster, A.R. and Jeff right beside me.

"HOLLISTER! LET GO OF ME!" I turned around the corner to see the big jock trying to put Max against a locker. Max was actually holding up; he was a little on the small side, but quick and slippery. Unfortunately, this only made Hollister angrier. His "friends", Rasheed and Sam, stood by with their arms folded. Vivi was standing back in a corner, quivering slightly. She noticed us and sprinted to us.

"You guys!" She pointed to Max, who had just barely dodged a right jab. "Help him!"

A.R. sighed. "Alright, we'll help Max, again, like we always do."

I leaned toward A.R. "So what's the plan here?"

"Don't worry, mane." He pounded his chest. "I got this." He strolled up to Hollister, and poked him straight in the chest. "Now listen here, buckwheat," he said coolly. "I'm not sure exactly what the hell you're doing. Lemme walk you through what you just did." He pointed to Vivi. "That girl? You see that girl? You hit on a young girl half your size. Not only am I pretty sure that's illegal for you, but if you ever got her in bed, you would split her in half."

"HEY!" said Vivi, vividly livid. "Trying to retain dignity over here!"

"Anywhoozle," he continued, ignoring her, "while you're flirting with Miss Underage, Max walks along. He decides to play the good guy and defend the damsel in distress."

"I'LL DAMSEL YOU!" shouted Vivi.

"Sounds hot," I muttered to Copprani.

"As I was saying," said A.R., "Max decides to stand up for Vivi over here. What do you do? You try and beat the kid like a nerd beating his dick at a Facebook beach vacation album, for what?" He walked around the forming crowd and peered at a random person as he said each forthcoming word. "Humility? Respect? Politeness? Courage?" He sighed. "What kind of a world…" –pause for emphasis- "do we live in? A noble man, like this, beaten for what is right?" His voice rose. "This is exactly how the system wants us to behave!"

Flyer sighed. "Here he goes again," she murmured.

A.R. was shouting now. "Utter chaos? No sense of integrity? Well I think I speak for every able-minded person when I say FUCK THAT SHIT, BEEEYOTCH!"

The gathered crowd began cheering. Hollister looked around, and decided it best to look like the good guy on campus. He walked up to A.R. and shook, twisted, slid and bumped hands with him.

"Hey, man, you're alright," said Hollister. "I'll ease up on the girl a bit."

A.R. squeezed Hollister's palm. "Thanks, bro. That's what I like to hear."

* * *

It was dark.

At eight-thirty, I was walking home with Copprani from A.R. and Flyer's house.

"I hope hanging out at their place after school turns into a regular thing," said Copprani. "I like their house. It's spacious. Being there feels good after working for the establishment for seven hours."

"You sound like A.R. now," I said, laughing. "The system? The establishment?"

"You have the same mentality!" she said. "You hate the government."

"Yeah, but I don't dig the whole preaching thing. I'm a behind the scenes guy."

"It doesn't hurt to be outspoken."

"It will when the government shoots you."

She laughed. "That's your problem, Lupe. You're too paranoid to do anything."

I gasped mockingly. "How dare you suggest that?"

She punched me. "Go ahead, make fun, but you know it's the truth."

"Whatever you say, Copprani."

She was silent, for a moment. "Lupe?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think...about the gangs?"

"I think they're stupid," I said shortly.

She laughed. "Well, yes, everyone with any brains does, but, I mean, you know... do you think anything bad will happen?"

"Well..." I spoke carefully. "I think... that as long as we stay out of it, it won't really be a problem for us. You know?"

"Yeah..." she sighed. "Definitely."

She didn't sound too impressed by what I said, so I decided to cover it. "But, we'll always be there for you. Vivi, Flyer, A.R.? They'll always be behind you. And me most of all. I'll always be around."

She smiled. "Thanks." I knew I had succeeded.

We stopped at her house. In terms of floor plan and outward appearance, it was fairly modest; I was pretty sure that she was the broke-est of the six of us besides me. But she loved it, and I liked that she loved it.

She looked in at the porch light, and then back at me. "Thanks for walking me home, Lupe," she said genuinely. "It was really nice of you."

"Anytime," I said. "I'm here for ya."

She smiled, and hugged me tightly. "You're the best."

"Thanks. I try."

She pulled away slightly, and beamed at me. "I really like being around you. You're the greatest best friend ever." She leaned in, and kissed me on the lips. It was light; not a makeout session by anyone's standards. But still, the feeling was there.

With that, she rushed up the steps. "See you tomorrow, Lupe!" She flashed a smile at me and disappeared through the screen door.

I stood there, immobilized, watching her front door for several minutes. I saw a light come on in the leftmost room of the house, and Copprani's face appeared. She smiled, waved. I waved back, grinned, and walked the last two blocks to my house.

* * *

**10.13.2010**

Apparently people thought that the school year started off right, because we did the exact same thing for the next month. And when I say that, I mean _every day was like that for the next month_. Copprani always woke me up, we always walked to school together, we all fought our way through confused students to find each other in the mornings, avoided confrontations during passing periods, piled into A.R.'s car and grabbed some local food during lunch hours, and met at A.R. and Flyer's house to exchange each others' complaints over bottles of whatever was in the cabinet, with the occasional video game tournament. It was the same thing every day, and nothing different ever happened.

At least, until October 13.

Nothing significant, of course, but something happened.

I got an email from Max's older sister.

That day had been especially tiring for me, not to mention cold, and I had opted out of meeting at A.R.'s house after school to go home, do some pushups, take a shower, and take a nap.

When I strode into our front path, I found Amelia sitting on the porch.

"How come you aren't inside?" I asked her. "It's getting cold out here."

She looked up and puffed out her lower lip. "I forgot my key inside this morning."

I sighed. "You're lucky I came home this early." I pulled my lanyard out of my pocket, picked out the bronze key and unlocked the door. Before I could even try to step inside, Amelia ran inside and pulled a blanket around herself.

"You're such a ditz, sis." I walked inside, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. "If you didn't have any black chromosomes in you, you'd be blonde."

"Are you sure I have black in me?" she asked. "I'm as white as Marilyn Manson."

I laughed and dropped my backpack on the couch. "You just got a lot of Mom's side, that's all. And that could be a good thing. Guys are more into white girls. You'll have lots of sex opportunities."

Amelia whined. "Hey! Virgin ears here."

"Sorry. But you'll appreciate it eventually." I sat down at the computer and logged into Gmail. "Jesus. THIS is full."

Amelia stood up and peered over my shoulder, only to jump back. "Why do you have four hundred unread messages?"

"I haven't checked my email since August," I said, scrolling from the bottom up. "Doesn't look like I've missed anything important, anyway. This is all crap."

Suddenly, a message ID caught my eye. MayThaMapleTree at Hotmail. "Hey, check this."

"May the maple tree?" said Amelia, confused. "Who's that?"

"It's May Maple, blondie," I said. "It's Max's older sister. She's at university somewhere."

I began to read.

_From May Maple_

_To Lupe Jaco_

_Date: Oct 9, 2010 at 10:14 PM_

_Subject: Hi! :)_

_Hey, Lupe! I haven't seen you since after your freshman year! How are you? I hope you don't think that it's weird that I'm talking to you. It might seem kinda random, but I've realized you're my friend just as much as Max's and I need to stay in contact with you. I hope you don't mind. =]_

_What've you and Max been up to? I'm up to my shoulders in homework up here. Math 251 is freaking brutal. I would ask Drew for help, but he's got as much homework as I do, plus a job haha. wait, do you know Drew? He was a senior with me, but that was a couple years ago… do you remember him? I hope you do. He used to be a bit of a jerkoff, but I think being on his own has been a good influence on him :)). Whoops, there I go, off on a tangent :P. You better get used to that. Especially if we become friends on Facebook. I post random statuses like every hour lol._

_Oh, hey, how's your girlfriend? ;) Copprani, isn't it? I like that name. I wish I had it. It makes May seem so plain :P. Dang, another tangent. Sorry, Lupe. :)_

_Talk to you soon! (I hope lol)_

_Sincerely,_

_May Maple._

_P.S. Do you play any sports?_

"How old is May, exactly?" asked Amelia.

"You've met her before, haven't you?" I thought for a moment. "Maybe you haven't… She's nineteen."

"Well, reply!"

"Alright, fine."

_From Lupe Jaco_

_To May Maple_

_Date: Oct 13, 2010 at 3:57 PM_

_Re: Subject: Hi! :)_

_Whatsup May? Yeah it's been what, 2 years? I'm good. Tired at the moment tho lol. Nah, it's not weird. 'S actually kinda cool, I haven't talked to ya in forever. So yeah, I don't mind haha._

_Me and Max never really do stuff just the two of us, y'know? It's always the six of us, me, Max, Copprani, Vivi, and A.R. and Flyer. We're a family, we stick together, yknow? But Max is a good kid. He tries to misbehave tho; he always asks if we have beer anytime we have a bonfire ha. Don't worry, we don't :P we can't really afford it anyway haha. I never really have hw, I usually do it in class if I have to. I like to chillax when schools done for tha day, y'know?_

_Yeah, I remember Drewski. He might've been a jerk, idk. I don't think he ever bugged me cause I was black lol. So what's with all the Drew talk? You dating him or what? You fucking him or what? Jkjkjkjkjkjkjk haha don't worry about it. And I don't have a Facebook lol. No Myspace either. I don't get on the comp too much. I'll probably get a Facebook soon tho, everyone's bugging me to ha.  
_

_Yours,_

_Lupe Jaco._

_P.S. I play baseball, and sometimes I ball it up with some guys at tha Slab. No football though, I'm better at watchin that on the big screen haha. Peace =)_

I pressed Reply and sighed. "Now I need a nap." I turned off the computer.

"What, typing a hundred words wore you out?" asked Amelia.

"Man, even my fingernails are sore."

She sighed and pulled out her phone, which was vibrating madly. "No wonder you don't play football. You're such a baby."

"I love you too."

"Whatever."

I ignored her and went upstairs to sleep.

* * *

**There's a button underneath this sentence that saves a baby seal from becoming a pair of boots when pressed, just so you know.**


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